I spent the morning in the studio doing hand sewing and listening to NPR.

Sewing by hand is not my normal mode. I don’t use handwork in the body of my works or as added embellishments. The only hand work I do is attaching binding edges.

So as I stitched and listened, I thought about the edges as a chance for creative decision-making..

Painters who work on cradled boards have discovered this. Once it became acceptable for gallery-hung works to display without a frame, painters began to use this space creatively. Some wrap the image around the edge. Some leave the edge a natural wood color or paint it white or black. It’s a nice way to tie a series together.

For quilts, I generally use a strip binding edge, or strip binding combined with facing the quilt, and I try to do so creatively.

Here’s one edge of the piece I was working on this morning.

I painted this fabric strip to match other areas of the work. I attached it by machine, trimmed the seam allowance to ¼” edge, then turned the strip so that it would show on the face of the artwork. That’s the top. On the side, I turned the binding to the back so the cream color went off the artwork edge.

I did not want this work to have a boxed-in look with a contrasting binding on four sides. Here is the lower right hand-corner. I have incorporated the black-teal fabric to function visually as a border in the lower corner, although it is actually a part of the face of the quilt. On the bottom edge, I have sewed on the binding strip so that it shows.

Along the side edge, I turned the strip to the back as a facing so the shapes and patterns of that portion would go off the edge of the piece visually, without being “stopped” by the binding. This work, “Growing Unseen” is 99% done. I’ll be posting it on my web site soon. (Stay tuned.)

Here’s an example of one I completed last year that has no visible binding. “Sometimes you can’t see in.” I feel like this work has a painting-like complexity, and I wanted everything to go off the edge, no stops. (This work has been accepted into the 2019 Juried Art Show at Rocky mount NC, and will exhibit there May 3 – August 18)

In “Every One Has a Different Story”, I added a visible binding on the bottom edge only. (I remembered this one as an example because it is currently hanging in my home, right above my computer screen. As I was typing I looked up and thought “Now there’s a good example!) The colored blocks along the bottom function almost as a sidewalk, and the strip anchors it.

(More information about “Every One Has a Different Story” can be found HERE)

Now on to some new projects. I have about six sketches for new work ready to tackle. Hmmmmmm. Where to begin?

NEWSLETTER: If you enjoy more detailed behind-the-scenes stories, as well as FIRST LOOKS at new works and members-only discounts, I hope you’ll become a Studio Insider. You’ll hear from me by e-mail about once a month. Subscribe here: STUDIO-INSIDER-NEWSLETTER